Fans of Reese Witherspoon's Draper James brand, put down your sweet tea and pick up your handbag. Her highly anticipated new pop-up boutique at Southlake Town Square is here. It will open officially on Sunday, September 15, and will stick around until September 2020, the company confirms.
The store will feature the brand's newest apparel and accessories, including best-selling pieces from classic dresses and wardrobe staples with a touch of Southern charm, they say.
The Southlake boutique marks Draper James' exciting return to Dallas-Fort Worth after a three-year-old standalone shop in Highland Park Village closed in early 2019. The only other standalone stores are in Nashville; Atlanta; and Lexington, Kentucky.
"Draper James is proud to have had roots in Texas for three years, and the brand is eager to welcome customers to its newest Texas home after recent departure from Highland Park Village," a release says.
When the Dallas store opened in 2016, Witherspoon herself dropped by to christen it. She has no plans to swing through Southlake on Sunday, the company says, but never say never.
Witherspoon, the Oscar-winning actress known for blockbusters like Legally Blonde, Sweet Home Alabama, and Walk the Line — as well as the hit HBO show Big Little Lies — was born in New Orleans and raised in Nashville. She started the Southern-inspired fashion and lifestyle brand in spring 2015 and opened the first store in Nashville later that year.
Adorably, she named the company in honor of her grandparents, who "taught her everything she knows about gracious Southern living," the company says.
In early August, Southlake Town Square teased a major retailer alert with a picture of Witherspoon on Facebook and Instagram, and on August 5, a Draper James spokeswoman confirmed to CultureMap that the brand was headed there.
Why Southlake and not, say, Uptown Dallas, Plano, or Frisco? The location came as a result of extensive, data-driven market research.
"When determining the location of the brand’s new location in Texas, Draper James landed on Southlake Town Square by geo-targeting their customers," the release says. "Draper James found that the ZIP code encompassing Southlake Town Square was one of its top 20 best performing in the country for e-commerce sales and had one of the highest sales-to-person ratios."
Draper James CEO Taylor Rettig adds, “We are excited to bring the full, in-person Draper James experience to such a concentrated audience of our fans and are also looking forward to the continued expansion of our retail footprint into additional markets in the near future.”
Draper James' easy-breezy styles lean toward shirt dresses, wrap dresses, and midi and maxi dresses. There are also tees and tanks, sweatshirts and outerwear, totes, handbags, and sunglasses. A popular T-shirt asks, "What Would Dolly Do?"
In the past year, they've also launched extended sizing, swimwear, and new footwear in response to customer requests.
The new Southlake store is at 311 E. Grand Ave.
Beginning September 15, hours will be from noon to 6 pm Sunday and 10 am to 9 pm Monday through Saturday.
Reese wears a Draper James belted chambray shirt dress, $115, and carries a leather backpack, $275.
The new facade at Ellen Noël Art MuseumPhoto courtesy of Ellen Noël Art Museum
